'Embarrassing'

Mackovic's description of Texas' worst-ever home loss -- 66-3

Mike Finger
Daily Texan Staff

With just under two minutes remaining in the first half of Saturday's UCLA-Texas game at Royal-Memorial Stadium, the few thousand fans who were still present stood up and cheered.

But those who made that gesture weren't doing so out of school pride -- any feelings of that sort had been destroyed some time during the two hours beforehand. And the standing ovation certainly was not sincere, for as the feigned applause echoed throughout the stadium, you could have cut the sarcasm with a butter knife.

No, the reason for the crowd's display was that at that point on that day, a day that will forever live in Texas infamy, the football team had finally done something right -- it had forced an incompletion on third down and stopped UCLA from scoring for the first time.

But that little bit of success came too little, too late, as the No. 11 Longhorns had already dug themselves into a 38-0 hole. And by the end of the long afternoon, the unranked Bruins had shellacked Texas by a 66-3 score, the Horns' worst loss since 1904.

"I've never been beat like that in my entire life," center Ryan Fiebiger said through the foggy gaze that seemed to envelop every Texas player in the aftermath of the debacle. "It's devastating. You looked around the huddle and all you could see were ghost eyes."

The word "devastating" only begins to describe the damage that UCLA did to a season in which the Horns were actually contemplating a run at the national championship prior to Saturday. No phase of Texas' game was immune to the Bruins' domination, and no quarterback, whether it be James Brown (who sat out the contest with a bruised left ankle) or Joe Namath, could have had any hopes of leading the Horns to victory.

"This was a real butt-kicking," Texas coach John Mackovic said of the defeat, the team's worst-ever at home. "We didn't do anything like we know we can do."

Everywhere you looked Saturday, there were Bruins running rampant. On offense, quarterback Cade McNown set a school record with five touchdown passes, while the running back tandem of Skip Hicks and Keith Brown rushed for 175 yards.

Defensively, the quickness-oriented UCLA unit forced eight turnovers, the most that Texas has committed in one game since 1988. The Bruins capitalized on the Horns' mistakes immensely, as they began six of their 14 drives in Texas territory and scored 42 of their points off turnovers.

"It was really embarrassing," said running back Ricky Williams, who saw his Heisman Trophy hopes all but crumble with a 36-yard rushing performance. "We came out pumped up, but then we faced some adversity and just fell apart."

That underachievement started early for the Horns, and then never stopped. After backup quarterback Richard Walton opened the contest by guiding Texas to the UCLA 33, the drive stalled because of a sack and an illegal block. The Bruins then took the ball and picked apart the Texas defense en route to a 77-yard touchdown march capped by a five-yard scoring pass from McNown to Jim McElroy.

The Horns' defense managed to hold UCLA to a field goal on its next possession, but then things went downhill -- fast. Immediately after Walton fumbled away a snap from the shotgun formation, McNown hit Hicks for a 43-yard score. After the kickoff, a heavily pressured Walton was intercepted by Larry Atkins, who returned the ball to the Horns' 1-yard line.

McNown then threw his third touchdown pass of the day to Mike Grieb, giving the Bruins a 24-0 advantage with 14:22 still remaining in the second quarter.

"They got that first sack, and things just went down from there," Mackovic said of his team's first-half meltdown. "One thing led to the next."

Marty Cherry tried his hand at quarterback early in the second quarter, but he didn't provide much relief. His second pass was intercepted by Marques Anderson at the Texas 36, and he fumbled the ball away on the Horns next drive. Both turnovers resulted in UCLA touchdowns, as the Bruins scored on their first six possessions.

But if the Horns could agree on one thing Saturday, it was that no single person, or position, was to blame for the defeat. Missed assignments on the offensive line contributed to the errors of Walton and Cherry, and the defense looked helpless in its efforts to minimize the damage created by the turnovers.

"They didn't do anything that we didn't expect," Fiebiger said. "We just had too many breakdowns. "We beat ourselves, and that's something that we can't do."

The Horns finally got on the scoreboard late in the third quarter, when Phil Dawson connected on a 35-yard field goal that kept Texas' 192-game scoring streak alive.

But the points kept rolling in for the Bruins, who added three rushing touchdowns and an interception return for a score in the second half. And while things didn't get much better for the home team after halftime, the players insisted that it wasn't for a lack of effort.

"All we were talking about at halftime was how we were going to come back and win the game," said middle linebacker Aaron Humphrey. "Texas did not give up today."

And while players attempted to show an optimistic attitude following the game, the magnitude of the loss was beginning to set in. The Horns still have a chance to bounce back over the next nine games, but Mackovic conceded that Saturday will hurt for a long time.

"This was a real eye-opener for a lot of things," he said. "Unfortunately, it was more than an eye-opener, actually. It gashed us."


Horns' mistakes too numerous to count

Brian Davis
Daily Texan Staff

At least the inmates at Attica went down swinging.

After an ankle injury held UT general James Brown hostage, the Bruins pinned the rest of the No. 11 Longhorns against the wall and pummeled them senseless. UCLA's Cade McNown and Skip Hicks helped turn Royal-Memorial Stadium into a prison that Texas couldn't have escaped even if given blueprints.

Just how bad was Texas on Saturday, oh, let us count the ways:

* Backups Richard Walton and Marty Cherry tag-teamed to throw four interceptions and lose two fumbles while Brown could only pace the sidelines with helmet in hand.

Walton has performed admirable in the past, but Saturday, he wilted under the tireless UCLA pressure and ended up on his backside more than he remained upright at whistle's end. Walton finished 16-of-27 for 145 yards, but after a fumble and an interception on two consecutive drives, Walton gave way to Cherry.

"Richard, God bless his soul, nothing was going right," Texas head coach John Mackovic said.

Cherry didn't fare much better. Texas' third-string signal-caller was promptly picked off, which led to a UCLA touchdown, and then fumbled deep in UT territory, which the Bruins converted into six more points.

UCLA lit up the scoreboard for 28 in the second quarter alone en route to a 38-0 halftime lead. It seemed senseless to play Brown at that point as the senior quarterback was still not at 100 percent from the lingering effects of a left ankle injury suffered against Rutgers.

"James is so angry with me," Mackovic said. "But under the circumstances, we weren't protecting the passer well enough. You stick James out there and he can't even move, and he gets reinjured, then that would be the first question out of the box. Why would you risk your quarterback on a day like today?"

Making matters worse, both Walton and Cherry were betrayed by a slew of dropped balls and easy bread-basket catches by a UT receiving corps in desperate need of some Stick 'Em. Flanker Wane McGarity, who is pegged as UT's No. 1 receiving threat, did his best Mike Adams impression by dropping a strike at midfield and by letting a touchdown bullet slip through his fingers in the end zone.

"I was calm, but I was just stupid," Walton said of his miscues. "I made a couple of mental mistakes. I forced one, and then pulled out early on a play that was on two."

* Texas' offensive line, which is considered to be one of UT's strong suits, was brutally whipped as the Bruins' "3-3-Go Crazy" defensive unit confused them all day.

UT offensive line coach Mike Deal gave UCLA's defense the moniker early in the week knowing that they would give the Longhorns some different looks. UCLA used a stacked front, and they presented several new schemes that Texas had not seen on film.

"Some of the protections that we had planned on running weren't exactly the same as what we thought they were going to be," UT tackle Jay Humphrey said.

By the end of the first half, Texas had minus 7 rushing yards as halfback Ricky Williams' Heisman hopes washed down the tubes with a 13 carry, 36-yard performance.

"It's just frustrating when every time you get the ball, there's somebody there waiting for you," Williams said before beginning to explain what went wrong.

"What we did was had a slide protection where the back would stay in and block the defensive end. They played a lot of man coverages, so when the back stayed in to block, they would send the backer that was covering the [running] back, and we just didn't have enough guys to cover it. There was always one free guy coming in."

* The Texas defense showed flashes of greasy palms last week against Rutgers, and poor tackling got the better of them again this week against UCLA.

It was a sad sight indeed as Hicks, a Wichita Falls native, carried UT cornerback Anton Hector into the end zone on his back as he scored on a 43-yard touchdown pass coming out of the backfield. It typified a day where UT's defensive unit only registered one sack and allowed 191 yards rushing.

"We went out there and just couldn't get the job done," UT middle linebacker Aaron Humphrey said. "We couldn't stop the run, couldn't stop the pass, poor tackling. ... We just didn't play like a Texas defense is supposed to play."

The Longhorn secondary all but failed its first true test by McNown, who finished with a UCLA career-record five touchdown passes and 202 passing yards.

"Of course we're in shock," Humphrey added. "UCLA came out here and had a great ballclub. They put it to us today, and they just wore us out."

* Now comes the question of intensity. Texas is now 3-9-1 against top 25 opponents under Mackovic, and Saturday's debacle continued UT's trend of failing to clinch the "Big One," save for an upset win over Nebraska.

The Longhorns have been snake-bit by a non-conference opponent every year since Mackovic took the reins from David McWilliams.

There are Mississippi State, Syracuse, Colorado (twice) and Notre Dame (twice) prior to Saturday's devastating loss to the Bruins.

"We're disappointed," Mackovic said. "We did not represent our university and our fans the way we know we should, and right now, the next chance we get to play, we'll do a better job."

Mackovic said his team seemed "loose" during Friday's preparations, and it has been his experience that teams are prepared when they are quieter. But when asked what he would change if he could relive Friday, Mackovic said, "I would change all the pass protection schemes."

"Whenever you talk about a football coach motivating you, think of one who throws stuff around and yelling and screaming at you," UT kicker Phil Dawson said of Mackovic's calm locker room demeanor.

"Coach Mackovic obviously doesn't do that, but he appeals to your mind. I know he's done talking, I'm ready to go play football.

"Besides, if it takes a coach yelling, jumping and throwing his hat around to get you excited to play for the University of Texas, you don't need to be here."


Horns plummet from AP's top 25

Jeff McDonald
Daily Texan Staff

As they triumphantly marched out of Royal-Memorial Stadium Saturday, the UCLA Bruin band serenaded the celebrating team with the theme song from The Jeffersons.

Quite an appropriate choice.

Buoyed by a 66-3 spanking of then-No. 11 Texas, head coach Bob Toledo's team is movin' on up in the national rankings.

The Bruins, unranked and 0-2 going into the contest, catapulted to the 24th slot in the Associated Press poll released Sunday, courtesy of the rout.

For UCLA -- which dropped its first two games of the season by a combined nine points -- it is the first journey into ranked territory since September 1994.

"A lot of people had already given up on us, but we didn't give up on ourselves," Toledo said. "We know we are just two scores away from being a top 10 team."

Credit for the team's big day falls heavily to junior quarterback Cade McNown, who threw for 202 yards and a school-record five touchdowns, but he also got a little help from his friends.

Running back Skip Hicks, a Wichita Falls native making his first-ever return to the Lone Star State, ran for 96 yards on 22 carries, and found the end zone three times. One of those scores, a 43-yard catch and run job, included a juke of UT strong safety Aaron Babino and a goal-line mauling of free safety Donald McCowen.

UCLA safety Larry Atkins set the tone defensively, recording six tackles (two for losses), two interceptions and a sack. Bruin linebacker Damon Smith added another six stops -- with two of those coming for losses -- and a sack.

The UCLA defense forced eight Texas turnovers in all, converting them into 42 points.

"It was just total domination, all four quarters," said UCLA linebacker Danjuan Magee. "You can't lose when you do that."

Now put the Longhorns' last 48 hours to music and what do you get? Try Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'."

UT was riding a short streak of six consecutive weeks in the top 25, dating back to last season, but tumbled off the charts after Saturday's debacle.

In suffering only its seventh loss to an unranked opponent in six years under coach John Mackovic, Texas also joins the receiving-votes crowd, company it also kept for a good part of 1996.

"It might do us good not to have that high of a ranking," Texas senior place kicker Phil Dawson said.

"Maybe it'll be a reality check all of a sudden. We're trying not to blow this up too big, but we just have to get better, or we're going to be in for a long season."

And after turning in an almost laughable performance against the Bruins, few on the Texas team will beg to differ with the AP pollsters.

The loss -- the school's worst in 93 years -- was chock full of enough errors and miscues to make a typical Three Stooges routine look like high drama.

Seven sacks surrendered, untimely penalties committed, and scores of botched coverages and blocking assignments combined with the eight turnovers to make the game unwinnable for the Horns.

"There are two types of teams in this country," UT senior center Ryan Fiebiger said. "Some teams think they're good, and some teams are good. Maybe we thought we were too good, and maybe this can put us in our place a little bit."

Texas' official place after the sobering weekend -- 28th-best in the country by way of 52 AP votes-- may be right where the Horns belong, according to some Bruins.

Magee, who also chipped in a sack Saturday, said he thought his team's latest opponent was overrated.

"No, Texas ain't the 11th-best team in the nation," Magee said. "And I don't think Tennessee's the third-best team or whatever. I think we should be No. 3. I mean we romped all over Texas. I don't know any team that scored 66 points and the other team only scored three, you know?"

There will be little argument there out of the Longhorn camp.

In the somber Texas post-game interview room, UT players almost unanimously expected to fall from the top 25 after their hapless performance, just as they did a year ago after an October overtime loss to Oklahoma.

"Do we deserve to be ranked after this?" Dawson mused during Saturday's post mortem. "That's up to the writers to decide."

After Sunday, the writers have spoken.


UCLA           10 28  7 21 -- 66
Texas           0  0  3  0 --  3

UCLA  McElroy 5 pass from McNown (Sailer kick), 7:46
UCLA  FG Sailer 44, 3:59
UCLA  Hicks 43 pass from McNown (Sailer kick), 14:42
UCLA  Grieb 1 pass from McNown (Sailer kick), 14:22
UCLA  McElroy 4 pass from McNown (Sailer kick), 9:26
UCLA  Grieb 1 pass from McNown (Sailer kick), 4:37
UCLA  Hicks 1 run (Sailer kick), 10:07
Texas FG Dawson 35, 5:42
UCLA  Hicks 2 run (Sailer kick), 13:18
UCLA  K.Brown 10 run (Sailer kick), 4:24
UCLA  D.Allen 40 interception return (Stabile kick), 4:01

A--77,203.
                        UCLA          Texas
First Downs             20            24
Rushed-Yards            46-191        40-53
Passing                 202           250
Comp-Att-Int            15-24-0       25-45-4
Return Yards            113           12
Punts-Avg               4-39          3-44
Fumbles-Lost            0-0           5-4
Penalties-Yards         9-89          8-81
Time of Possession      28:00         32:00

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
    UCLA - Hicks 22-96, K.Brown 15-79, D.Price 4-15, J.Lewis 2-6,
            Stanley 1-3, Verti 1-2, McNown 1-(-10).
    Texas - H.Mitchell 4-50, Williams 13-36, Coleman 5-16, Ellis 3-12,
            R.Brown 4-3, Clayton 2-(-4), Cherry 5-(-26), Walton 4-(-34).

PASSING
    UCLA - McNown 15-23-0-202, Bennett 0-1-0-0.
    Texas - Walton 16-27-1-145, Cherry 9-18-3-105.

RECEIVING
    UCLA - McElroy 4-26, Hicks 2-58, Grieb 2-2, Crecion 1-36, R.Lee 1-26,
            D.Price 1-24, Caldwell 1-13, Pierce 1-12, Farmer 1-9,
            K.Brown 1-(-4).
    Texas - McGarity 5-64, B.White 4-55, Dullnig 2-22, Ellis 1-18,
            D.Lewis 1-17,  Healy 1-15, H.Mitchell 2-14, Coleman 2-9,
            Thompson 1-9, Epps 1-9, Williams 3-7, R.Brown 1-6, D. Aaron 1-5.